More Articles

The Dispatch E-Edition

All current subscribers have full access to Digital D, which includes the E-Edition and
unlimited premium content on Dispatch.com, BuckeyeXtra.com, BlueJacketsXtra.com and
DispatchPolitics.com.
Subscribe
today!

Cord Camera is closing six of its eight remaining stores as the Columbus-based chain continues
in its efforts to survive hard economic times.

Cord will close its Polaris and Reynoldsburg stores soon, said John R. Crotty, president and
chief financial officer of Colfax Financial, Cord Camera’s owner.

In addition to the two closings in central Ohio, Cord plans to close its two stores in the
Cincinnati area and its two in Indiana — in Bloomington and Indianapolis.

Two stores will remain. Both are in central Ohio: 1132 W. 5th Ave., on the Northwest Side
just north of Grandview Heights; and at 17 W. Schrock Rd., Westerville.

“Through Christmas, sales of cameras were not what we hoped for,” Crotty said. “People are
using smartphones these days to take pictures, instead of the cameras we sell. The other thing is
that people are not printing pictures the way they used to. That’s changing times.”

The dual challenges of the recession and the growing popularity of digital and smartphone
cameras have devastated the specialty-camera retail sector in the past decade.

In 2003, sales of digital cameras surpassed those of traditional devices, the Photo Marketing
Association said. And they were available at a variety of outlets, including department stores,
mass merchandisers and electronics stores, taking market share from specialty shops.

By 2009, 78 percent of U.S. households owned a digital camera, and 62 percent owned a camera
phone, the association said.

Cord started in 1954 as Fast Photo Service, a wholesale processing company for
black-and-white film. It later became Cord Camera, run by Cushman “Jick” Cordle, William “Bud”
Cordle and their mother, Laura Cordle.

At its peak, Cord Camera had more than 30 locations in Ohio and Indiana. As recently as
October, it had a dozen.